1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to processing data in a parallel computing environment, or, more specifically, to managing power or temperature in the parallel computing environment.
2. Description of Related Art
Parallel computing is the simultaneous execution of the same task (split up and specially adapted) on multiple processors in order to obtain results faster. Parallel computing benefits from the fact that a process can usually be divided into smaller tasks, which may be performed simultaneously.
Parallel computers execute parallel algorithms. A parallel algorithm (i.e., a job) can be split up into tasks that are executed on different processing devices. The results from the plurality of tasks may then be combined to yield the overall result. Some jobs are easy to divide up into tasks; for example, a job that checks all of the numbers from one to a hundred thousand to identify prime numbers could be split up into tasks by assigning a subset of the numbers to each available processor, and then combining the list of positive results back together. In this specification, the multiple processing devices that execute the individual tasks of a job are referred to as compute nodes.
Because a parallel computer may include thousands of compute nodes operating simultaneously, the parallel computer may consume a large amount of power. Electricity providers typically charge customers higher rates after the customer consumes an amount of power greater than a particular amount. Moreover, greater power consumption generally results in the compute nodes generating more heat. Sustained exposure to high heat may degrade the hardware elements in the parallel computing system and increase maintenance costs.